Hardcover is a book tracking app built for readers rather than retail. It lets you organize what you have read, what you are reading now, and what you plan to read next, all in one library. Alongside tracking, it adds a light social layer where you follow friends, share reviews, and browse curated lists. The team behind it, led by founder Adam Fortuna, pitches Hardcover as an independent answer to Amazon-owned Goodreads. This review looks at what the app does well, where it still falls short, and which readers will get the most from it.
What Is Hardcover?
Hardcover is a social book tracking platform created by Adam Fortuna, a software developer and product manager based in Salt Lake City. The idea grew out of a specific problem: in 2021, Goodreads announced it would discontinue its public API, which Fortuna had used to show his reading on a personal blog. Hardcover became his response, rebuilding open access that Amazon had removed.
The platform targets everyday readers who want a tidy library, plus tech-minded and privacy-conscious users who dislike corporate book tracking. Book data on Hardcover is openly licensed and community-contributed, not locked inside a proprietary database. That openness sits at the center of the product.
How Does Hardcover Work?
Getting started is quick. You download the app or open the website, create an account, and import your reading history from Goodreads, StoryGraph, or a CSV file. From there, you add books and set each one to a status such as want to read, currently reading, read, or did not finish. You can rate with half-stars, write reviews, and mark private notes only you can see.
Discovery happens through an explore area, trending picks, and community lists rather than pure algorithms. A match-score feature suggests books using a simple percentage. Behind the scenes, the same GraphQL API that powers the apps is open to developers, so the data you see is the data you can query.
Key Features
- Four reading statuses, including a proper Did Not Finish option.
- Half-star ratings for more precise scoring than whole stars.
- Per-book privacy: set entries to public, friends-only, or private.
- Custom lists and tags to sort your library your way.
- Social feed to follow readers and share reviews.
- Year-end “Wrapped” style recap of your reading habits.
- Imports from Goodreads, StoryGraph, and CSV files.
- Free public GraphQL API for building custom tools.
Series Tracker: Never Lose Your Place Again
- Series tracker: Follow your progress across a whole book series in one place, rolled out to all users as a Labs feature in early 2026.
- Reading journal: Add journal entries and quotes tied to a specific book or page, useful for readers who like to keep notes as they go.
- Reading goals: Set a personal reading target and track progress against it throughout the year, similar to Goodreads’ annual challenge.
- Follow system and activity feed: Follow other readers directly and see their status updates, ratings, and reviews appear in your feed.
- Discord community hub: An active Discord server extends the social side of the app beyond in-app features, something few competitors offer.
- E-reader integration via community plugins: Third-party tools, including a KOReader plugin, can auto-update your reading status and progress from an e-reader.
Performance and Experience
The interface is one of Hardcover’s strongest points. Reviewers describe it as modern and clean, a clear visual step up from Goodreads. Logging books is fast, and the layout stays readable even as your library grows. The learning curve is gentle for basic tracking, though the explore tab can feel busy at first.
Performance is mostly solid but not flawless. Some users note lag and occasional crashes, especially when loading longer lists. As a growing app from a small team, these rough edges appear now and then, and the team ships updates on a regular monthly cadence.
Integrations and Compatibility
Hardcover runs on iOS, Android, and the web, so your library stays in sync across devices. Its standout developer feature is the free GraphQL API, accessed with a key from account settings. That API lets you query book metadata, update reading status, and manage lists programmatically. Community projects, including MCP servers for AI assistants, already build on it. A Discord community adds a social hub outside the app itself.
Our Users’ Thoughts and Experiences
Hardcover earns its place as one of the more thoughtful Goodreads alternatives available in 2026. Its biggest strengths are a clean modern design, genuine privacy controls, and a free public API that almost no competitor offers. The freemium model feels fair, and the transparent, community-first approach builds real trust. On the downside, the catalog and user base remain smaller than Goodreads, and some readers report lag or crashes. A few stats and genre views sit behind the Supporter tier, which frustrates free users. Overall, Hardcover is a strong pick for people who care where their data goes and want an app that ships steadily. It is a work in progress, but the direction is encouraging.
Suggestions For Improvement
- Improve list loading speed and reduce crash reports.
- Expand the book catalog to close the gap with Goodreads.
- Bring more reading stats and genre views into the free tier.
- Redesign the streak tracker for non-technical readers.
- Add trope and content tags many readers now expect.
- Finish and confirm the open-source release with a clear timeline.
